Stand By Me
1960
That four-note bassline, a gospel hymn turned into a promise, and one of the warmest vocals ever recorded.
★ 9.4
The Songs canon
Sourced and sung.
Every song chosen by hand, with the recording to play it.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
Browse all 2,393 songs or filter by genre, subject, artist, and year.
The ChainFleetwood Mac
The Chain
1977 · From Rumours
Razor-blade tape splices turned rejected scraps into the one Rumours song credited to all five, McVie's bass ending it.
★ 7.7
Stand By Your Man
1968 · From Stand By Your Man
Written in about twenty minutes at the end of a session, and Wynette immediately dreaded that high note forever.
★ 7.4
Regulate
1994 · From Regulate...G Funk Era
Warren G looped four bars of Michael McDonald in a Long Beach bedroom, and Nate Dogg sang his half.
★ 7.3
Buddy Holly
1994 · From Weezer (The Blue Album)
Cuomo thought it too cheesy to release; Ocasek insisted, then Spike Jonze spliced the band into Happy Days footage.
★ 7.2
21 Questions
2003 · From Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Dre objected to a love song on a gangsta album, then mixed it into four weeks atop the Hot 100.
★ 5.1
Say You'll Be There
1996
Judd Lander, the harmonica player from Karma Chameleon, gives the record its Stevie Wonder swing over Absolute's production.
★ 5.1
Kryptonite
2000
Fifteen years old and stuck in a math class when Arnold wrote it; he sang it from the drum stool.
★ 5.1
Loyal
Chris Brown and Lil Wayne
2013
Nic Nac's beat borrows from "Money Ain't a Thang," and three regional versions carried it thirty-six weeks on the chart.
★ 2.9
The Promise
1988
Written in a garden shed at Farrington's father's house, stalled at fifty-eight in Britain, then Napoleon Dynamite happened.
★ 2.9
Someday
1999
Sugar Ray's drummer co-wrote it about touring temptation and a faithful girlfriend; the album title joked about vanishing fame.
★ 1.7
We Dem Boyz
2014
Detail and Choppa Boi built a beat out of space and chant; Nas and Rick Ross joined the remix.
★ 1.3